


Fireworks

by leavesofautumn



Category: Open Heart (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-24
Updated: 2019-10-24
Packaged: 2021-01-02 09:41:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21159566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leavesofautumn/pseuds/leavesofautumn
Summary: Bryce asks Casey a question.





	Fireworks

"You're doing it again."

Casey watches as Bryce perches on the edge of her desk, picking up a stapler and passing it between his hands.

"Doing what?" she asks.

"Bringing work home with you," he says quietly, gesturing vaguely at the large stack of papers in front of her.

Casey sighs, setting her pen down as she swivels in her chair to face him. His shoulders are slumped, a deep furrow drawn between his brows as he studies her, his expression almost...disappointed.

Realization dawns on her. She glances down at her watch. 

"Shit, our reservation! Bryce, I'm _ so _ sorry. I didn't realize it was so late. Why didn't you come get me?"

He shrugs. "You looked busy. I didn't want to interrupt. I know what being on the Diagnostics Team means to you. Your work is important."

She stands, a soft smile forming on her lips at the note of sincerity in his voice as she steps up against him and places a hand on his chest.

"You know what's _ more _ important? Reminders that there's more to life than paperwork and case files. Such as spending time with my wonderful, _ gorgeous_, attentive boyfriend."

He grins. "Gorgeous, huh?"

She stretches up on her toes to place a reassuring kiss on his lips.

"Mhm." She reaches down and laces her fingers through his, squeezing his hand. "Now come on - maybe we won't make dinner, but it's never too late to go dancing."

~)x(~

Bryce looks over his shoulder as they head out the front door. His sports coat is lying over the back of one of the kitchen chairs. He tells Casey he forgot his phone and doubles back for it, taking the small red box from its inner pocket and moving it back to its home in the top drawer of his dresser.

Where it's been for six freakin' months now. Because it never feels like the right time, the right place to ask Casey such an impossibly difficult and life-changing question.

Hell, maybe it's for the best. Maybe they aren't ready. Maybe things are just too hectic right now. What with Casey on the Diagnostics Team and him pulling overtime shifts to study under Harper.

But as he climbs into the passenger seat of his girlfriend's Explorer and she smiles up at him, her face full with tenderness, her eyes bright with excitement...all of a sudden his doubts slip away. 

Because he realizes then and there just how much he adores that dazzling little smile of hers. 

He can't possibly live without it. Without _her._

"We ready?" she asks, shifting into reverse.

Bryce reaches over and takes her free hand, running his thumb over the back her knuckles, warmth blossoming throughout his chest.

"I think we are."

~)x(~

They stumble through the door at 2am - sober, because they both work in the morning - laughing and clinging to one another. 

Casey's missed nights like these. Simple. Carefree. Fun. She's been so distracted lately on her work with Ethan that she'd nearly forgotten how good letting go and simply _ being _could be.

How wonderful spending time with Bryce is - one on one, outside of the house, just the two of them...together.

She glows with happiness, heart full to bursting as his arms wrap her waist from behind, his voice sweeter than honey as he whispers something off-beat in her ear that makes her blush.

His spontaneity is infectious, his zest for life unchallenged by anyone else she's ever known. She loves him more than she'd ever thought herself capable of loving another person, and she's positive that she's only survived these last three years at Edenbrook _because_ he's been right there, standing by her side through thick and thin.

In _everything. _The good times...and the bad.

Dr. Bryce Lahela - her unexpected knight in obnoxious teal scrubs, her rock, her confidant...her best and closest friend.

She kisses him hard as they fall into bed together, hands sliding up underneath his sweater over all that lean, luscious muscle beneath. His hand twists in her hair, eliciting a small noise from the back of her throat as the other slides up her thigh over the top of her jeans.

A sudden _pop_ of green fills the otherwise dark room, making Casey jump. She glances up at the window as a second crackling explosion chases the first.

"Fireworks?"

When she looks back down at Bryce he's giving her a dizzying, wolfish grin.

"Right? I feel 'em too."

He laughs at his own lame joke as she whacks him with a pillow and crawls off of him. Then she grabs their quilt and takes him by the hand.

"C'mon - let's go watch."

~)x(~

Bryce spreads the quilt down on the grass outside of their apartment building, taking a seat and pulling Casey down into his lap. She leans back against his chest, eyes to the sky as she settles between his legs.

"What do you think the occasion is?" she asks, turning her head to the side to glance up at him.

The fireworks burst loudly above the river in the distance, their rainbow light bathing Casey's face in a brilliant mirage of color that steals his breath away.

Bryce reaches up, thoughtful as he tucks a strand of auburn hair behind her ear, his fingertips brushing against the softness of her cheek.

"How about an engagement?" he asks quietly.

Casey tenses up, her vibrant eyes wide as they lock on his, her breathing suddenly shallow.

"Bryce…?"

He reaches into his pocket and holds the little red box up between them, smiling to himself. 

"You know...I've been carrying this thing around with me for almost half a year now, waiting for the perfect moment to ask you to marry me. And then tonight I realized it doesn't _matter_ how or when I do it - I just want to be with you, Case...always. It's as simple as that."

He pries the ring from the box and slips it onto her finger, giving her a shy smile as he raises his head to meet her gaze.

"So what do you say, babe? Wanna be my bride?"

Suddenly he's knocked flat on his back, Casey's lips crushing his as the word yes slips from her mouth into his a hundred times over. She's breathless, laughing, crying.

Above her head, the finale of the firework show begins. And the image of her like that - of her smiling, tear-filled silhouette outlined in a kaleidoscope of glittering fire, his ring on her finger, her hand pressed over his heart - is a sight he'll treasure for the rest of forever.

He rolls her underneath him, pressing her down into the soft, grassy hill below as he whispers over and over again just how much he loves her, the rest of the world falling away.

.

.

.


End file.
